A client of mine recently asked me a great question: “What value did you bring to our engagement?”  To answer this, we went back to look at the net profit of his account since 2019. 

2019: $151k

2020: $197k

2021: $286k

2022: -$323k

2023: $304k

2024: $232k

2025: $311k

2026YTD: $129k

Then he asked an even better question: “That doesn’t mean you added substantial value, does it?  If I had just invested the money in the S&P 500, I could have made the same amount or even more.”

So I further clarified …

My value to my clients is certainly not that I can predict the market. I certainly can’t, otherwise he wouldn’t have lost $323k in 2022. Instead, my value lies in having studied the market history and knowing how the market behaves. When the market gets rough, I provide my clients with an emotional anchor and a long-term perspective. Because of that relationship, we can rebalance into the market as opposed to fleeing from it. 

I asked him: “Without me, would you have stayed invested in the market after the big drop in 2022?” At this point, he admitted that he probably would not have and would have missed the entire rally after that – nearly $1mm increase in his account. Such is the value of the emotional anchor and the long-term perspective provided by this humble financial advisor.

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